Android M finally allows users to move Apps and App data to microSD cards called the “Adoptable Storage Devices”

Since long, Android users have been craving for the facility to be able to move their apps and app data between their phone’s internal and external storage or the miroSD card. Sadly, Google didn’t seem to care much about it as after Nexus One, none of their Nexus phones and Tablets have had a microSD card slot. Now finally, Google has capitulated to popular demand and the latest Android M comes with this facility.

Google introduced Android M with several new features at its I/O conference this year and the feature of “Adoptable Storage Devices” is one of them. Actually, it is the name given by Google to removable external storage or microSD cards because they are adopted to become a part of the mobile device’s internal storage. The company did not elaborate much on this new feature at the I/O but references to this feature are found in Android M developer preview documentation. According to that, users will be able to move apps and app data to the external storage only if it is specifically allowed by the app developer in the app.

Although earlier Android versions didn’t offer this feature, certain smartphone manufacturers added this feature on their own. But now Android M will officially have the microSD card support built into it. In fact Android M will now support several features such as custom quick settings, support for fingerprint reader, themes etc. which the OEMs were providing in their products on their own.

According to the official documentation:

“With this preview, users can adopt external storage devices such as SD cards. Adopting an external storage device encrypts and formats the device to behave like internal storage. This feature allows users to move both apps and private data of those apps between storage devices.”  

Here, the external device gets encrypted, so another device may not be able to read the data moved to it. Also, it is possible that the app moved to the microSD card may not work when the card is pulled out of the device.

The Adoptable Storage Devices feature of Android M will also apply to external USB sticks as this OS will have built-in USB OTG support. This feature will be useful for Android TVs and gaming consoles.

Android M finally allows users to move Apps and App data to microSD cards called the “Adoptable Storage Devices”

Google Chrome Latest Update comes with Network Quality Estimator and Offline Browsing

In the latest Google Chrome update, it will come with a few new features, Offline Browsing and Network Quality Estimator. These two new features is useful in the event whereby the network quality is not so good in a certain area, especially in the developing countries.

Normally when you open a page using Google Chrome, it will connect to the internet and fetches the latest information from the server and display it to your screen. With the Offline Browsing feature, it will download the content of the website to your computer so that when you access it without the internet connection; you should not feel any difference between the two of them. Currently this feature is already available in Internet Explorer and Firefox. This feature is useful for website content such as cooking recipe or bus schedule information.

The other new feature, Network Quality Estimator, it will analyze the network connection to optimize the search results or any website so that the content like text and information will be loaded first before the image which require more bandwidth. Hopefully the waiting time to load the entire content for the website can be shorten eventhough the data network quality is not so good in the area.

These two new features are announced in the Google I/O Conference this year by Google’s VP of Engineering, Jen Fitzpatrick among all other new features or hardware which the company going to implement in the near future.

Google Chrome Latest Update comes with Network Quality Estimator and Offline Browsing

Android M has got a revamped RAM Manager

The previous Android OS version the Android Lollipop is designed such that users can check the RAM status of their phone and the memory used by each of the apps. This feature still plays a big role and many users doing intensive multi-tasking need to monitor as to how much memory is gulped by some of their heavier apps. The latest Android M aims to improve this functionality by proving a more comprehensive way in order to check the average and the maximum RAM that each app can occupy.

However, in order to access the Memory section in Android M what it seems in the recent M Developer Review is that you need to navigate to Systems > Apps and then touch the three-dot menu at the upper right corner after that open Advanced and tap on Memory.

After accessing this and getting inside, users would be getting information about the per-app breakdown of the average and maximum RAM used by each of their apps, both pre-installed (system) and user installed. The dark green shade shows the average reading while the lighter green shade would show the absolute amount of operational memory occupied by the app. Users can even see that the app in question is rarely running or constantly running in the background. Tapping on the app would reveal all of its running process along with the amount of RAM they occupy. The apps that are trivial can be stopped by tapping of the “X” button to the right. The “Force Stop” button will allow you kill all the misbehaving apps.

Thus these changes coming from Android M we surely optimize the RAM usage to a great extent. Check the images below to get the idea.

via: PhoneArena

Android M has got a revamped RAM Manager

Google Photos is the new Google application for managing, sharing and editing your images

Just earlier this week, we saw the screenshots of the newly released Google Photos apps and the various features that it brings to the table. Yesterdays at the Goggle I/O event, search giant Google introduced its new photo application which is aimed to bring all your photos under one roof making it very easy for the users to have a quick access and share. The Google Photos would be serving as a centralized location for all your images and the images you would capture with the camera would be synchronized by this photo application and users would also be able to add images stored on other devices. The images could be uploaded in higher resolution with 16MP per image with no loss in the image quality. Up to these quality settings, users will get an unlimited space for storage. However, you can even upload large size images but this would be at the cost of occupying extra space of your Google Account. The great thing is that you can even upload videos with 1080p resolution.

The app in addition to just sharing your images can also manage them well. In addition to grouping the images with time, date or place, it can even group them when the same people are present in images by identifying the faces. No need of tagging the people, just tapping on the face will allow Google Photos to do the further magic. Additionally, this app can also look after editing of your images like color and light adjustments and others. It also allows users to make collages, animations, movies with sound tracks and many more things. There is a special Assistant feature that provides few suggestions made with the photos and videos like a story based on any recent trip.

However, if you want to keep your images secret in a vault, Google Photos even provide this facility. You can share the images via app to by generating a link to a gallery containing multiple images. The recipients can even add these images to their personal Photos space. Sharing of the images can be as fast as just holding your finger on an image and drag down to move to the sharing options . If you want to try out, this app is currently available for download on the Google Play Store. Check out the video below to get the better idea.

 

source: Google

Google Photos is the new Google application for managing, sharing and editing your images

Google developing Brillo OS for Internet of Things, may introduce it at Google I/O next week

Google is developing an operating system called Brillo for the Internet of things (IoT). It would be lightweight and run on small low-powered devices. Reports say that the Mountain View giant plans to launch the new Brillo OS as early as next week at its I/O event.

Fortune has received information from sources who talked to Google and writes:

“The plan is to launch the code at Google’s I/O event next week. These operating systems are designed to be very small and take up very little memory so they can run on chips that might act as the brains of a smart lock or even a connected sensor. The world of these real-time operating systems as they are called is very fragmented, with most of the ones in use today being dictated by the chip. Most chipmakers provide an RTOS, as they’re known, that works with the chip.”

Brillo will not be a part of Google’s Nest division but will work on the smart devices developed by nest. The development of the OS is linked to its Android unit and will probably be released under the Android brand according to a report by The information.

The OS will be small and will need a memory of only 32MB or 64MB RAM and could be used in IOT devices such as smart light bulbs, security cameras, TVs, smart refrigerators and other smart appliances. Through the new OS, Google plans to connect all such small devices via internet.

Since IOT is the next big thing, Google will definitely benefit from the development of Brillo. So it is easy to understand why Google wants to develop its own software for IOT communication in smart devices.

The Google I/O annual event for developers is scheduled to begin from May 28 in San Francisco. Google is also expected to unveil a new edition of Android dubbed as “Android M” which would have several new features including better device integration and security.

Google developing Brillo OS for Internet of Things, may introduce it at Google I/O next week

Android M is likely to arrive with finger-print authentication

This week ahead everyone must be eyeing for the Google I/O event, which is kick off on May 28^th, as to what does Google have this time to offer! The one of the most expected announcements is the new OS Android M. Google has earlier mentioned this new OS as “the power of Android to all kinds of workplaces.” Here is a new info which has arrived for this next Android OS.

BuzzFeed and Ars Technica have came with a report that Android M will feature the native fingerprint authentication. Now many of the Android flagship devices from different companies usually come with a fingerprint scanner and the software for this recognition is being developed by the handset makers themselves. Now with Android baking this recognition feature in the OS itself, it would be easy for manufacturers to just add the hardware for the fingerprint scanners to their devices.

We think that the first glimpses of Google’s Android M integration of fingerprint scanner would arrive with the next Google Nexus handset that is likely to come in the second half of the year.

We wonder what new sweet name is the new Android M to get. Well, things will be clear by the end of this week.

sources: BuzzFeed, Ars Technica

Android M is likely to arrive with finger-print authentication